Clin Cancer Res
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Immune Recovery after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Following Flu-TBI versus TLI-ATG Conditioning.
A conditioning regimen for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) combining total lymphoid irradiation (TLI) plus anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) has been developed to induce graft-versus-tumor effects without graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). ⋯ Immune recovery differs substantially between these two conditioning regimens, possibly explaining the different clinical outcomes observed (NCT00603954).
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Accumulating evidence supports the contention that genetic variation is associated with neurocognitive function in healthy individuals and increased risk for neurocognitive decline in a variety of patient populations, including cancer patients. However, this has rarely been studied in glioma patients. ⋯ Polymorphisms in inflammation, DNA repair, and metabolism pathways are associated with neurocognitive function in glioma patients and may affect clinical outcomes.
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From Coley's toxin to combination immune checkpoint inhibition, strategies to activate the immune system and generate anticancer immunity have been ongoing for well over a century. Over the past decade, the so-called immune checkpoint inhibitors, generally monoclonal antibodies that target key regulators of T-cell activation, emerged as the most effective immune-targeted agents. Pembrolizumab is the first anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1) antibody approved by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. ⋯ However, in the setting of other recent advances in the field, a number of practical issues are emerging that need to be addressed to optimize the care of patients with melanoma. First, the optimal sequencing of therapy (first-line immunotherapy over molecular targeted therapy, ipilimumab versus pembrolizumab as initial immune checkpoint inhibitor) is unknown and must be evaluated through randomized trials. Second, there is a strong rationale to combine immune checkpoint inhibitors (i.e., anti-PD-1 with ipilimumab) and to combine immune therapies with targeted therapy agents, so determining whether combination therapy is better than direct sequencing is another critical issue that needs to be addressed in carefully carried out studies.
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Dual anti-HER2 blockade with trastuzumab/pertuzumab or trastuzumab/lapatinib in combination with anthracycline/taxane-based chemotherapy can reach pathologic complete response (pCR) rates of up to 60% in HER2-positive breast cancer. The DAFNE (Dual blockade with AFatinib and trastuzumab as NEoadjuvant treatment) phase II study (NCT015591477) investigated a dual blockade with the irreversible pan-HER inhibitor afatinib and trastuzumab in this setting. ⋯ Neoadjuvant treatment with afatinib, trastuzumab, and chemotherapy showed acceptable tolerability, and a pCR rate comparable with that of other anti-HER2 doublets but below challenging expectations.